Black Lives Matter Follow-Up Statement

Dear BACHA Members,

In our recent statement about racial violence towards Black lives and police brutality, we made a commitment to anti-racist pedagogies and to work toward being allies and accomplices in the fight to dismantle oppression. As the new 2020-2021 board, we met earlier this week to discuss the ways we plan to move forward. 

As a board, we will be prioritizing these first steps: 

• Recognizing the need for a greater focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion during our events, we will ensure that our keynote speakers are appropriately compensated for their labor when speaking on these topics.

• We will be conducting a review of our past business relationships and seek to improve support for local Black-owned businesses.

• We recognize that access and financial support for professional development is a barrier. We will be establishing a scholarship for BACHA professional development opportunities. Information and details will be available on our website once finalized. 

• Our board will be doing a thorough review of our mission statement to update our priorities and ensure that diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the core of our work.

• To ensure sustainable practice, we will unpack our responsibility for diversity, equity, and inclusion education (DEI) within our work.  We will review each of our board positions to ensure DEI is a core function of each of our roles.  In addition, we plan to dedicate a board position focused specifically on multicultural competence and education for our board and members.

• Lastly, we will be establishing a diversity, equity, and inclusion award. This award will highlight the work of our members and their efforts to make their institutions more equitable. Information on this award will be available closer to our BACHA 2021 awards in the spring semester.

We know that the efforts the board is making are just the first steps. We will continue to educate ourselves and examine ways we can do better for our members. Future newsletters will incorporate opportunities for our members to engage in intercultural dialogue about topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion

Sincerely,

The BACHA Board